Aldermaston atomic bomb factory has repairs to uranium plant signed off by regulator

The nuclear regulator sites has now removed an improvement notice which it slapped on the atomic bomb factory in Aldermaston after finding corroded steelwork in a uranium plant.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation , which oversees safety and security at nuclear sites, has now told the Atomic Weapons Establishment it has closed its improvement notice following the completion of structural repairs to the manufacturing facility at Aldermaston.

AWE has now complied with the improvement notice - issued in November 2012 - following its discovery of “unexpected corrosion to structural steelwork in the uranium manufacturing facility building at its Aldermaston site”.

Enforcement

ONR took enforcement action as it felt AWE had failed to make and implement adequate arrangements for the examination, inspection and maintenance of the building, thereby “potentially exposing its workers and others to risks to their health and safety”.

After being served with the notice, AWE suspended normal operations and began a programme of structural inspections to discover the extent of the problem and work out the best way to make the repairs.

Progress was regularly monitored by ONR’s civil engineering specialist inspectors and permission was granted for repair work to begin in June 2013.

The improvement notice placed the following four requirements on AWE:

complete the inspection of the building

repair the building to an acceptable standard

carry out a review to identify lessons learnt

carry out a review of the plant maintenance schedule for the facility based on lessons learnt.

While three of the requirements were carried out by the deadline of December 31, 2013, AWE applied to ONR for an extension to complete the repair works.

ONR says it is now satisfied the structural repairs have been completed to an acceptable standard ahead of the revised May 2015 deadline.

AWE has atomic bomb sites in both Aldermaston and Burghfield regularly the target of protests .